Written by

Susan Bloom
For the Asbury Park Press

Last spring, Chris Gant of Toms River began experiencing symptoms that seemed oddly contradictory.

"I was run down and weak; my muscles were achy and sore. I was losing weight like crazy, and I felt like I had the flu," the 42-year-old said of the conditions that made his job at the Toms River Municipal Utilities Authority difficult. "But at the same time, tests showed that my heart rate was high, in the 90 to 100 range."

Concerned when his muscles began twitching, he went to a local emergency room, where an endocrinologist's review of his blood work revealed that he tested positive for Graves' ...